


The Hunters and Wolves of Palm Springs

by Kritterrat



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Grumpy Derek, M/M, Palm Springs AU, Stiles Stilinski Doesn't Know About Werewolves, Time Loop, Werewolves Turn Into Actual Wolves, character death but no one dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:07:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29938023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kritterrat/pseuds/Kritterrat
Summary: A Palm Springs AU that my soul needed.“Hey Derek, have you seen Kate?” Derek pulled down his shades and stared lazily at Chris from the floating pizza bed. He had answered this same question for days, or well this day so many times he had lost count. Still, this was the best pool in the area, least populated, the pizza mattress was an old friend at this point, and Chris’s interruption was bearable. Derek sighed and cracked open his coke.“Nope.” He popped the p and swiveled the pizza to face the desert.“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!” A familiar voice shouted. Derek’s eyes shot open. A silver object whistled by his ear and splashed in front of him.Now this, this was new.Derek’s stomach flip-flopped, with excitement, or dread he didn’t know. He faced two familiar seething brown eyes.“Stiles”
Relationships: Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	The Hunters and Wolves of Palm Springs

“Hey, Derek, have you seen Kate?” Chris called from the deck. Derek pulled down his shades and stared lazily at Chris from the floating pizza bed. He had answered this same question for days, or well this day so many times he had lost count. Still, this was the best pool in the area, least populated, the pizza mattress was an old friend at this point, and Chris’s interruption was bearable. 

Derek sighed and cracked open his coke.“Nope.” He popped the p and swiveled the pizza to face the desert.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!” A familiar voice shouted. Derek’s eyes shot open. A silver object whistled by his ear and splashed in front of him. 

Now this, this was new. 

Derek’s stomach flip-flopped, with excitement or dread he didn’t know. He turned to face two familiar seething brown eyes. 

“Stiles” Derek breathed. 

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? IS THIS A PRANK? HUH? WELL, IT IS SO FUNNY HAHA. fUCK YOU.” Derek swore as Stiles ranted from the edge of the pool and Chris watched confused from the deck. 

“It’s not a prank.” 

Stiles stopped. His hands suspended in mid-air. 

“w-WHAT?” 

“Is everything alright here?” Chris asked, coming out from the awning. His hands resting on his belt near his gun. Derek eyed it wearily. 

“Yes.”

“NO.”

Chris shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t know you two knew each other. Maybe this can wait for after the wedding? Alice really wanted us all to get along... and I know this isn’t easy but I need you to calm down is that clear?” Chris eyed Derek at the last statement. 

“Is he paying you to say that?” Stiles questioned, slowly and awkwardly lowering his arms. 

“What?” Chris asked. “Are you on drugs kid? I know you and Scott partied hard last night but I will not be having all that hoopla here do you understand?”

Stiles nodded. 

“I think this is just a misunderstanding from earlier. We’ll be quieter Chris.” Derek tried, hoping the man would just butt out. Although… Derek thought blithely, he could just rip the man’s head off. It would reset tomorrow anyhow. The man was a bitch to kill tho. He may look like another suburban dad with the knowhow of a dead lawnmower, but truthfully the man was packing, and a hunter. Dying by Chris was not Derek’s favorite, actually, he had only done it once before, and it… Derek shudders. 

“Alright then, I’ll be inside.” Chris walked off slowly. 

Stiles seemed to vibrate with agitation from the poolside.

“What day is it.”

“Saturday, November 19, 2018.” Derek intoned miserably. 

“That was yesterday,” Stiles stated matter of factly.

“And tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.” Derek took a sip of his coke, it was lukewarm now and instantly stirred his stomach. He grimaced, today was going to be a long one. 

“It’s a prank.” Denial creeping into Stiles’s voice, fear not far behind. “A pretty elaborate one, I will give you that. Did Scott hire you? VERY FUNNY BUDDY!” Stiles yelled towards a short palm tree, looking for his friend to pop out laughing. 

Derek dove into the pool and came out to the side where Stiles was searching for his friend. 

“It’s better I show you.” He grabbed Stiles's arm. Stiles followed, taking his arm back.

“Fine. But I can walk on my own you know!” The man grumpily walked beside him into the villa.

Chris watched them from the other side of the kitchen. 

“All figured out now?” He asked.

“No. I realized I was wrong. I do know where Kate is.” Chris’s eyebrows rose incredulously. “You see, my partner and I,” Derek nodded towards Stiles, Chris glanced at Stiles, “We found you out. Well, your family.” Chris’s hand immediately went for his gun unbuttoning the holster quietly. Derek glanced at the confused Stiles at his side.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Stiles and then turned back towards Chris “We know you hunt us, and Kate. W-we killed her.” Derek flashed his eyes, watching Chris unholster his gun with the precision and speed only a lifetime of practice can replicate. 

Derek didn’t hear the shot, but in the dimming of death, he heard Stiles screaming. 

* * *

Derek woke to someone pinching him.

“Wake up,” Stiles demanded, pinching him again hard. “What the hell was that.”

Derek groans, blurry-eyed at the man before him. And rolls over. It is definitely earlier than when Derek normally wakes up on this day. Stiles pinches him again. 

“Nonono. You are explaining exactly what the fuck is happening right now.”

“You’ve seen it now,” Derek blinks trying to clear his mind. “We are stuck.”

“Stuck where?”

“On November 19, 2018.” Stiles shakes his head in disbelief.

“How do we get out? Why are we here? Did you do this? Why did Chris just go ape shit like that, what-” Derek got out of the bed and got dressed ignoring the flood of questions leaving Stiles’s mouth. 

“Come on.” Derek motioned for the brown-eyed man to follow him and left the room. They were going to need several cups of coffee for this conversation, maybe a donut, hell maybe some shots after. 

* * *

Stiles stared pointedly at the man across the table. The dinner they were in was chic and reticent of a bygone era. Stiles tapped his foot as the man drank yet another cup of coffee. It did not matter what Stiles did or said, the guy was on his own timetable. Stiles felt queasy as he played with the eggs he had dutifully ordered. The man gestured to them.

“You gonna eat those?”

“Are you going to tell me what's going on? Or at least your name?”

“Yes, I’m Derek” the man grabbed the plate and began wolfing down the sunny side eggs in front of him. “We are stuck,” Derek chewed and swallowed, “On November 19, 2018. It’s like a time loop, or a spell, or a trap. Doesn’t really matter, we are stuck here either way. ” He wipes his mouth and Stiles pounces. 

“What about Chris, are we actually dead? What the fuck was that?”

“Kate goes missing on this day. He suspects I killed her. At least, a hell of a lot more than anyone else.” Derek shrugs nonchalantly as if his answer didn’t stir up more questions than answers. 

“D-did you kill her?” Stiles stuttered, taken aback.

“No,” Derek chuckles darkly. 

“Why does he think that?” Stiles asks, his brows furrowed. Derek looks just past Stiles to the man entering the diner. And changes the subject. 

“Regardless, it doesn’t answer how you got stuck here. What happened on the wedding night?” Derek asks, wiping his lips.

“I was drunk,” Stiles frowned, trying to remember the last night thoroughly distracted. “I think I was with someone. But I can’t remember.” 

Derek frowned, his jaw tightening. “I think I know part of what happened.”

Stiles looked up from his newly arranged salt packets. “I’ll show you.”

They ventured out into the desert, the hot sun burning into Stiles’s back, honestly, he knows following a suspected killer into the wilderness is a bad idea but at the same time, he can’t rightly tell if this is actually one long and fucked up stress dream. 

“Here.” Derek stops at the entrance of a cave, Stiles looks beyond into the darkness of the cave.

“Here?” He asks skeptically. He was going to kill Scott for letting him try shrooms. 

“It’s the place where she trapped me.”

“Who?”

“Kate.” Derek did not elaborate. His jaw was hardening as he said her name like it was sewing itself shut at the sound.

“Ok, dude I’m still fucking lost. What the hell happened here that made this time thing?”

“Kate trapped me here, you must have accidentally wandered in at the wrong time and got caught up in all this.”

“How? Wait, no, Kate put us here? Why would I go down here?” Derek traced the walls of the cave absently. 

“There’s a bit more to it.”  
“No shit,” Stiles exclaims exasperated. “I guess at some point tomorrow you’ll tell me?”

“We have forever.” Derek shrugged. 

“That's not an answer.” Stiles deadpanned. 

Derek opened his mouth to reply when the cave began to shake. Dirt shifted, the ground beneath them slid. Stiles pitched himself forward trying to reach the incredibly built man, just a few feet in front of him. A stalagmite flew into Derek’s head. His eyes staring unseeing at the dark underbelly of the cave. 

“Derek!” Stiles shrieked as the rocks caved in and crushed them completely.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know where this came from, but it now consumes my being. Hope to update soon.


End file.
